Low-flying jet airplanes circling smaller aircraft over the Door Peninsula may become a common site, Cherryland Airport manager Keith Kasbohm said this week.

Door County Board Supervisor Kathy Schultz said at Wednesday's meeting of the Airport and Parks Committee that she has gotten phone calls from people concerned about what they had seen.

“They shook up a few people,” Schultz told Kasbohm. “Did they come from your place?”

Kasbohm said he, too, had gotten phone inquiries after the first sighting last week, and made a phone call of his own to the unlisted number for the airport control tower in Green Bay.

He said he was told the jets are from a squadron in either Madison or West Bend – where U.S. Air Force Reserve units are based – and are practicing aircraft intercept missions over the Door Peninsula, with the jet flying tight circles around the small plane.

“Last week was the first run of the intercept mission. Somewhere over Sevastopol … in that area … the jet was actually circling this little airplane,” Kasbohm said.

A second incident was seen early this week.

“They have a new route that goes over Baileys Harbor and down the peninsula," he said. "I don’t know how often they change their routes.”

The airport manager said he was told the flights were going to be on a frequent basis.

“I’m not sure what they mean by 'frequent,' but it appears to be once a week,” Kasbohm said

The exercises began before a press release could be issued informing the public they were seeing training missions.

“They haven't done that yet,” he said. “I called Green Bay tower, and that’s how I learned about it.”